Week in Insights: California ‘Road Charge’ Is Sensible, if Flawed

Curated by Daniel Xu

California has announced a pilot program that would replace the state gas tax with what amounts to a vehicle miles traveled tax—a promising initiative that can be improved with minor tweaks. It’s a good idea, but it needs a new name and some minor policy revisions.

The initiative aims to address declining gas tax revenue, which makes policy sense, as part of what a gas tax is intended to offset is the cost of road maintenance. Every mile driven by a motorist causes some wear to the transportation infrastructure, and taxing fossil fuels by ...